Ongoing Councillor Professional Development
2026 Councillor Professional Development Program
The VLGA has developed its Year 2 Councillor Professional Development (CPD) Program for 2026 with councillor needs, cost, and time efficiency front of mind.
We understand that councils are being asked to do more with less, and that councillors are time poor. This is why the VLGA has developed a program which aligns with the Victorian Government mandatory guidelines and does so in a cost effective and time efficient way.
To make it easy for councillors and council staff to ensure all requirements are met by the Victorian Government’s 31 December 2026 deadline, we will be releasing a quarterly calendar of CPD across all modules to avoid a bottleneck at the end of the year.
Our 2026 program introduces a new range of delivery methods – including fast-paced one-hour online modules as part of our CPD Essentials program to more intensive half days sessions which enable a deeper dive into specific aspects of the councillor role – our CPD Practical Intensives program.
All sessions are based on your Council’s policies and practices and we ensure our Facilitators are fully briefed by staff about your council.
The VLGA also does all the thinking and planning for you. Leave the hard work to us and let us design and deliver a Year 2 CPD program that directly aligns with your council’s needs.
Our Faculty of Facilitators will work with you to customise a program from a broad range of workshop topics that respond directly to the unique professional development needs of your council, delivered in a way which suits you.
For those who participated in our Year 1 program, be assured that we will be delivering different content to build upon the skills you refined in 2025.
The VLGA’s Year 2 CPD offer will also include a new focus on councillor wellbeing, including how to avoid burn out and how to deal with challenging situations without them impacting negatively on your health.
As always, practical learning is at the heart of our CPD program, based on real scenarios and events.
The VLGA’s Faculty of Facilitators are subject matter experts with lived experience in local government and administration. They know the local government sector intimately and understand the needs of councillors.
VLGA Members enjoy a 50% discount on all Councillor Professional Development programs, as well as complimentary access to our member-exclusive Lunch and Learn online sessions. At least half of our Lunch and Learn workshops will have direct alignment to mandatory CPD content.
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